New Adirondack Wine & Food Fest draws crowd

Robin and John McDougall of Lake George Distilling Co. discuss their whiskey products with people tasting their spirits at the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival on Sunday June 28. A substantial crowd attended the two-day event, and vendors and event organizers said they were happy with the turnout.

A new event has proven popular in Lake George, following the trend of other local attractions which have attracted crowds in the year they were first launched here.

The debut edition of the Adirondack Wine and Food Festival drew a substantial crowd last weekend — and rainy weather on Sunday June 28 didn’t deter people from attending, considering the large number of people lined up to sample wine, beer, spirits and specialty food items.

SUNY Adirondack student Lenny Bradway prepares fresh Tagliatelle as his college instructor Chef Matthew Bolton chops up tomatoes for bruschetta to accompany it, during the first annual Adirondack Wine Festival held in Lake George June 27 and June 28. Bolton and his students prepared more than a half-dozen gourmet dishes as festival attendees watched — and the audience tasted their creations afterwards.

On Saturday, no less than 1,800 people attended, event organizer Sasha Pardy said.

We had a good crowd and vendors were very happy,” she said, noting that attendees not only sampled the beverages and food, they made purchases.

The vendors included 11 wineries, two breweries, three distilleries and two cider producers as well as enterprises offering gourmet cheese, crackers, baked goods and soaps.

A robust crowd watched the preparation of specialty foods by SUNY Adirondack students — then they enjoyed consuming the delicacies. Chef/Instructor Matthew Bolton presided over the rotating crew of student cooks. Sunday, they prepared house-made Tagliatelle with fresh tomato bruschetta and four other dishes.

Pardy said the extent of the event’s success on Saturday surprise some of the enterprises participating.

“Some of the vendors had long lines at their booths,” she said. “Several of them discovered they needed more staff.”

By early afternoon, attendance reached 2,400 for the weekend, Pardy said.

“I feel good about the turnout,” she said. “It’s a new idea for Lake George, and it’s been well received already.”

Dispensing beer after beer Sunday for Adirondack Brewery, Phil Cassella said he was impressed by the crowd, particularly on Saturday.

“Compared to yesterday, it’s calm,” he quipped, as he filled glasses with beer to accommodate a dozen people standing in line. “Sales here has been awesome.”

“We’ve been serving up a lot of wine, so everyone is happy,” Barnhart said. “This has been a very good event — it’s extra well organized.”

The next booth over, John and Robin McDougall of Lake George Distilling Co. — established two years ago — filled glasses with various spirits, including Adirondack Wildfire cinnamon whiskey and their Lake George Lemonade Moonshine. All of their varieties are distilled locally in Fort Ann.

Robin McDougall said she was impressed by the size of the crowd, and their interest in boutique whiskeys.

“Yesterday was incredible,” she said. “We were ‘out straight’ all day — it was crazy.”